Fortune's Wheelhouse

Ah, the 2 of Cups!  The most welcome of sights in readings on many subjects, particularly romance.  But the so-called Lord of Love is more than just a pretty face.  Associated with Venus and the second decan of Cancer, it is the beginning of a story of passion, sacrifice, and surrender. We speak of the Chariot and the Empress, the mirror of Venus in which we catch the gaze of the Other, the red lion of alchemy, crabs and doors, and, last but certainly not least, the mysteries of dolphins.

Here we begin the suit of Cups, watery and full of feeling.  The Ace of Cups is the complement of the Ace of Wands: the Grail to its Lance, the Form to its Force.  It is the West, white brilliance, and the second letter or primal Heh of the divine name, the ה of יהוה.   In this episode we speak of the mysteries of the Holy Spirit, the "unmoved mover" and the Cup of Stolistes.  We consider the Ace of Hearts, visions and dreams, the desire to connect, and the continuity of one life and the next.

Here we begin with an overview of pages and princesses. We then move on to the Page/Princess of Wands:  The Rose of the Palace of Fire!  Is she the beginning or the culmination of the suit?  Is she sleeping in potential or established in might?  She is on fire! in the heart of Leo the lion. We discuss the rite of spring, the geomantic figure Cauda Draconis, hexagram 27, to salamanders, roses, and the ferocious tiger of the Asia Pacific region.   She is a force of nature who is not to be denied!

Whether you call him the Knight or the Prince of Wands, he is as bright as the sun and as bold as the lion!  He is the heart of fire, fixed yet on the move.  We consider his relationship to the 4 of Cups, the 5 and 6 of Wands - how he glories in strife and victory, reveling in the spotlight, passionate in his voice, carried away by his own charisma!  He is the airy part of fire, so hold on tight as gusts of wind feed and fuel the leaping flames!

The Queen of Wands is a palace of mirrors in which flames leap and multiply! Forthright and frank, sensual and feline, she possesses a magnetism that makes her the center of attention wherever she goes.   We consider her relationship with the 10 of Cups, 2 of Wands and 3 of Wands -  her quest to dominate and her yearning to surrender.  We speak of war queens and the thyrsus wand of Bacchus, the pine cone and the sunflower; of salamanders, cougars, leopards, lions, and...of course...Snuffles the Black Cat

Welcome to the courts! the most complex, enigmatic, and at times maddening cards in tarot.  In this episode we discuss the esoteric structure of the court cards, their confusing names, and the fourfold divisions they represet. For the King or Knight of Wands, we consider his relationship to the 7 of Cups and the 8 and 9 of Wands, Death, and Temperance/Art.  We talk of thunder and lightning, Hercules and Caesar, salamanders and black stallions and how His Speedy Swiftness makes us "Click to Buy"!

Feeling tired?  overburdened? and leaden-limbed?  welcome to the Lord of Oppression! In the 10 of Wands, cold, dry Saturn governs the final decan of the fire sign Sagittarius.  The embers are fading here at the northern Hemisphere's winter solstice; a mere pinpoint of southern light at the darkest time of the year.  Here we witness an uneasy duet of aspiration and enclosure, the perils of "lust of result," and the 99% perspiration that goes into all creative acts. 

Mel and Susie get interviewed for the first time! about the Fortune's Wheelhouse podcast. Our host was Ryan Peverly of the Occulture podcast. If you've ever wondered about how we got started in tarot, or how Fortune's Wheelhouse began, our theories about what's going on in the oracular moment, or what it sounds like when we use esoterics in a reading, you won't want to miss this one!

In any suit the Nine is where the power of that suit is strongest, and the Nine of Wands is known as the Lord of Strength. It is a fluctuating, tensile strength, not a rigid one - the strength of our Moon, who rules all nines, in fact, making the 9 of Wands doubly lunar. We speak of magic mirrors and equilibrium found in motion, the wisdom of adversity, the quiver and the bow, the arrows of Artemis and the justice of Persephone. 

Lord of Swiftness, Lord of Speed, the 8 of Wands comes rushing in! Fast as the flight of the arrow, fleeting as the rainbow, it is here and gone. Here is Mercury, the speediest of planets, as well as that other messenger, the rainbow goddess Iris. The messenger is on the move: catch him - or her - if you can! Here we speak of journeys outer and inner, new endeavors and bright ideas, knowledge gods, the widsom of the crossroads, the eightfold model of consciousness and the transmission of Will.

Here is the renegade, the rebel heart, the iconoclast!  Fearless and hotheaded, the 7 of Wands corresponds to the 3rd decan of Leo, ruled by Mars. He is the lord of Valor, and the uphill battle.  The adversaries are many - six against one! but glory and individual heroism are within grasp of his brute force. We look at the creative, off-kilter energy of the number 7, and we speak both of Mars and the goddesses Babalon and Nike, and Shakespeare's rascal Petruchio, bent on conquest of his shrewish Katherin

And...after Strife comes Victory.  The battle is over, the competition has concluded, and we have a winner!  As with other sixes, the 6 of Wands finds us at a moment of harmony and recognition, poised between the intemperate trials of the 5 and the restless quests of the 7.  Here we find the King of the Beasts astride the top of the Wheel, in the heart of fixed fire, basking in the heat.  Join us for a victory parade full of crowned heroes, horses with a secret and ... naked swords!

If this card makes you squirm and sweat, you're not alone. Nobody ever said it would be easy, right? We now pass into the heat and fire of the 5 of Wands, where cold dry Saturn contends with the first flaming degrees of Leo.  Here we find discomfort of volcanic proportions, the pressure cooker, the glass alembic taking form in the furnace. We find war and war gods, the necessity of chaos, and the Mesopotamian, leontocephaline deity Zurvan, snakebound Lord of Time.

With the 4 of Wands we arrive at the final Aries card of three: from the ruthless drive of Dominion to the forthright rulership of Virtue to this, the sweet respite of Completion.  Here Lady Venus (the Empress) reposes in her guest wing at the House of Aries (the Emperor), which is ruled over by her consort Mars.  It is not her favorite house, but you can't deny there is a certain . . . chemistry at work on the premises.

Ah, the 3 of Wands, the 'Lord of Virtue.' But what even is virtue? Here we find the Sun ruling the second decan of Aries, a place of exaltation for that golden sovereign of the sky.  The ruthless initiative of the Two of Wands gives way to something better-regulated and altruistic in the Three.  In this episode we talk about the formative aspects of Threes, and the manner in which 'Will' evolves into 'Established Strength'. We talk about waiting, and the guest-host relationship.